VIOLENCE IN BULGARIA

[Guest guest]

Hare Krsna!

Please, accept my humble obeisances!

All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

 

As some of you maybe know from my reports there is a split in the Bulgarian

Orthodox Church (BOC). The official synod and the so called "alternative

synod". The problem concerns mainly the head oh the official synod, the

Patriarch Maksim, who was elected as a head of the BOC, somewhere in the

70-ties with the sanction of the Bulgarian Communist Party at that time. One

of the main points, raised by the "alternative synod" was the legitimacy of

the head of BOC. The split lasts for more than 10 years.

 

The new Bulgarian religious Law was written with the main purpose to solve

the problem and conflict IN FAVOR of the official synod, headed by Maksim,

as admitted by the MP's, authors of the law. I had widely reported this and

other serious shortcomings of the law.

 

So, here is the most recent information on what goes on in Bulgaria:

 

Starting from the night of 21st of July the police attacked by force 250

churches in Bulgaria, headed by the priests, belonging to the alternative

synod. They arrested and forcefully kicked out of the temples those priests,

who did not want to surrender and leave the temples voluntarily. The police

interrupted the services and took the congregation by force out of the

temples. The media reported widely the violence against the so called

"alternative synod" priests. I have made a short video, showing the violence

and the arrest of some of them. It will be posted within next hours on the

net, so that everybody could see it. In meanwhile one of the "alternative

synod" priests was beaten by the police and as a result he lost some of his

teeth; has a broken nose and (as reported by media) some of his ribs were

broken by the attack of the police.

 

The point is that the State interferes with the internal life and

organizational status of the religions in a brutal, illegal and unparalleled

way.

 

This is a brief report. More detailed one will be prepared soon. Please

inform all your contacts about the events. This is a serious encroachment

against the human and religious rights in Bulgaria; result of the newly

accepted religious law.

 

Please, feel free to give my contacts to any person, willing to further

explore this case:

 

Radha Vinoda das (legal name Asen Genov)

handy: ++359/89/8586900

home: ++359/2/362748

e-mail - this one or vinoda (AT) pamho (DOT) net or asen (AT) pamho (DOT) bbt.se

 

Your servant: Radha Vinoda dasa